Ebba Bergkvist won the Swedish Junior Blues prize in 2023. It’s worth starting here because nothing about her or her band sounds remotely youthful.
Instead from the start of the utterly staggering title track this – forgive the obvious metaphor here – soars.
Indeed, it is hard to know which is better. Bergkvist’s voice or the guitar playing from Jonas Skeppar (the only Finnish member of the Flat Tire Band.
This is their second album, and it’s an incredible thing – and if you think that Blus Pills comparisons are a bit of a cliché, then tough, because you can’t listen to “The Pack” and not hear it.
But it’s important to say that this band are no copyists of anyone. Instead, they take a classic sound in their own direction, “Northeast Passage” is a good example of that, and the joy with which they attack this is infectious.
bassist Björn Björnehult Korning and drummer Adam Randolph lay down some proper funky grooves, but never funkier than on “Vice Versa”, and “Seasick” is as primal sounding as blues can be before Bergkvist’s sweet voice is all over it like a soothing balm.
“Backslide” is a lovely, folky change of pace, and if most of the songs have a similar length of between 3-4 minutes, then there’s one that almost acts as a Centrepoint in the way it sticks out. “Black Horses” is a real hypnotic journey – and an insight into what this band could be if they didn’t love rock n roll so much. As if to underline their ambition, then “Maverick” almost builds a bridge between the epic and the rest.
“Treachery” broods a little, before building with an unmistakable class, and the ballad that ends this, the beautifully funky slice of Americana “Eastern Prairies” is merely more fuel to the thought this band could be anything that they want to be.
Sometimes something comes along that you know is a statement of intent. “Four Wings” is that. Ebba Bergkvist says it’s named that because of a vision that came to her in a dream: “If I were a bird, I wouldn’t have two wings, I would have four” she says. On this, just watch her and the Flat Tire Band fly.
Rating 9/10
